


Linked

by AliGKey



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: AU, Action, Alternate Universe - High School, Chewy, Clexa, Drama, F/F, F/M, Fluff, High School, High School AU, Horseback Riding, Horses, Linctavia - Freeform, M/M, No Smut, NoDeath, Romance, Volleyball, Volleyball Teams - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-01 17:09:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15147896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliGKey/pseuds/AliGKey
Summary: Welcome to the town of Ton D.C., population 3,358. The only two high schools in town have been enemies for as long as anyone can remember, and will do anything to win. All's fair in war, and there is just one unspoken rule: Don't date the enemy.It's Octavia, Clarke, and Ravens senior year! The girls of Arkadia high only want one thing this year, to finally win a state final against Polis High. The new captain of the varsity team, Octavia Blake, is ready to lead the team to the state banner. But then she (literally) runs into Lincoln Pine. Lincoln is the captain of Polis Highs football team and her brothers arch nemesis. Both of them can't hide how they feel for each other, and need to find a way to stay together despite the rivalry between their two separate worlds.ORHigh school AU centered around Lincoln and Octavia's relationship.





	1. We're Back!

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! This fanfic is solely based around Octavia and Lincolns refashionship, because I can't find ANY long fanfics about them. 
> 
> I will be trying to update every other day, and I'm so sorry if chapters occasionally come out a bit later.
> 
> Comments, requests, and questions are welcomed!
> 
> Enjoy! -Ali

Soft sunlight filtered through a round window, the morning sky cloudless and blue. Octavia rolled over in her bed, turning away from the light. Lazily, she opened her eyes to glance at the digital clock on her bed stand. She shot up cursing.

It's eight fifteen.

"No," she muttered, desperately rolling out of bed. Tripping over scattered books and clothes, she made her way over to her closet, desperately searching for an outfit. It was her first day of senior year, and it already looked like she was going to be a few minutes late.

Settling on ripped jeans and a graphic t-shirt, Octavia continued her scramble downstairs. She grabbed a stray stack of books as she ran, thundering down the white staircase. As she passed the door, the brunette deposited the books in a stack next to her burgundy backpack. Sprinting past a living room with classy white furniture, and a large dining room, she turned a corner and slid into the brightly lit kitchen.

The kitchen in the Blake household was bustling with activity already. There were boxes of cereal placed on the pewter grey granite countertops, and Chewy, the family dog was running around the kitchen island, enjoying the chaos. Her brother, Bellamy, casually leaned against a white cupboard eating cereal shirtless, donning only board shorts. Their mom was bustling around, frantically, putting away dishes.

Her mother turned to see Octavia fly into a chair and grab some cereal, shoving food into her mouth as fast as she could. "Good morning sweetie," she said breathlessly as she hurried about the kitchen. "Eat quickly, you have to meet Clarke and Raven in ten minutes."

Already done Octavia nodded. "Got it."

Aurora Blake was not your everyday housewife. After her husband had died just a year after Bellamy was born, she had taken over the family company. She quickly built it up even further, eventually expanding the vast business empire through America. Now she was a single mother of two, as well as one of the most powerful women in America.

“Sweetie, what’s with the jeans with holes again?” Her mother fussed, surveying her outfit. “I could make some holy jeans for you for free. Why don’t you wear that cute black skirt I got for you? Clarke has a matching one, and you two would look so sweet together.” 

“I will one day mom.” Octavia lied. She was a bit more of a tomboy than her mother liked to think, and hadn’t once yet worn a skirt she had bought for her. By choice anyways.

Her mother nodded, smiling. “I’m so proud of both of you." She addressed to her kids. "Graduating senior year today, and off to college in one year!”

Rolling his eyes, Bellamy put his bowl down and walked over to the two women. “You’d think we were going off to the army or something the way you say it.”

Octavia grinned at her brother antics, but Aurora rolled her eyes. “Go put on a shirt,” she said, “and Octavia, hurry and brush your teeth. Your meeting Clarke and Raven in-“ she glanced at her silver watch, “seven minutes. Go, both of you!”

She shooed the siblings out, and the pair hurried back upstairs. Aurora remained at the door. A single tear was running down her face as she beamed.

Meanwhile, Octavia dashed into the washroom and quickly grabbed her toothbrush. While brushing her teeth, she dug around a glossy black makeup bag for mascara. Spitting and throwing her toothbrush back into a drawer, she hastily applied her eye makeup. Next, she pulled a brush through her tangled hair, swearing, and finally scrambled back downstairs.

She sees Bellamy standing and the door, shoving books into a bag. He finally managed to shove his calculus textbook in over a football, and turned to her smiling. “One more year, O, and then we’re out of here.”

“I know. It seems so short.”

Bellamy flashes her a trademark grin. “You’ll take that back when finals come around.”  
Grinning back, Octavia stuffed her books into her bag and flipped it onto her shoulder. Together, the Blake siblings head out for their first day of senior year.

 

╚═══ -ˋˏ *.·:·.⟐.·:·.* ˎˊ- ═══╝

 

The pair split up two minutes through the walk, Octavia turning down Alpha Avenue, and Bellamy continuing along Mecha street. She walked down the block, glancing at the prestige homes as she passed.

The Blake’s lived in the west end of Ton D.C. It was a small town, just a few miles outside of Washington, with a population of only a little over 3,000. It mainly was composed of fairly well-off families, but the exclusive west end community was home to many of the wealthy and famous. As she walked down Alpha, Octavia passed old Victorian style manors, modern mansions, and a hideous home covered in gargoyles.

Next to the gargoyle house was a large modern home. It had perfectly arranged flowers in the front, and unlike the house next door, the yard was completely clear. Two girls waited in front of it, a blonde and brunette.

“Octavia!” The blonde called, waving at her.

Octavia broke into a fast run. “Hey Clarke!”

She ran over to the girls and they all hugged, grinning widely.

“Senior year bitches!” Raven cheered. “Time to have some fun!”

“And study,” Clarke reminded her, “lots of studying.”

Raven rolled her eyes. “Your such a buzzkill Miss. Med School.”

Octavia giggled at her friend's antics as they began to walk together through the brisk autumn air.

“So O,” Clarke inquired, surveying her friend's outfit. “No matching skirt?”

Octavia looked at Clarke’s black sequinned miniskirt and winced. “Abby got to you, didn’t she?”

Aurora Blake and Abby Griffin were close friends and often went on shopping trips for their daughters together.

“Hahaha, you should have seen it!” Raven cackled. “It was the best thing since family game night!”

“Shut up Reyes.”

Raven continued. “Abby was all like ‘Oh, you and Octavia will look so cute matching, just like at your first day of preschool!"

The blonde buried her head into her hands, while Octavia doubled over in laughter. Although Clarke was more into wearing skirts and dresses to school than she was, the sequinned monstrosity was pretty bad.

The casual banter continued through the three friends until they reached the school. It was the only other high school in the town, and used almost exclusively by the wealthy west side students. It had a modern look to it, all wood and stone, with polished glass doors and a pristine lawn.

“Ah, the good old school,” Raven sighed, clapping her hands together. “Oh look, they rebuilt the room I burned down last year!

Raven had a slight tendency to not-so-accidentally blow things up in chemistry and usually got away with it being the brightest student in their grade. The Latina would probably be Valedictorian this year too, if she didn’t have as many detentions.

"Oh, and they replaced the window that I broke!" Octavia exclaimed, pointing to a full-length glass window. She had broken it the previous year after a freshman had dared her to try to hit her brother with a football. She had been successful, but Bellamy had fallen backward upon impact. And into the window.

They finally reached the main doors after walking over the large expanse of campus. And they were five minutes early. Octavia silently cursed in her head. She could have had five more minutes of sleep. Striding confidently through the glass doors, the trio looked around at the student milling about. There were new freshmen, all looking tiny and terrified.

The three seniors had no trouble getting through the crowds. All tall, gorgeous athletes, and seniors, the sea of students parted for them. Little freshmen looked up at them in awe, and Octavia snickered upon seeing one fall into a trash can after moving out of their way.

“BOO!” Raven shouted at a tiny girl with glasses, who jumped back with a yelp.

“Raven!” Clarke scolded, but Raven just laughed evilly.

“The little rats are so much fun this year!”

Shaking her head, Octavia bid her friends goodbye, as she had just arrived at her locker.

“Come down to the gym after lunch!” Clarke called over her shoulder. “Volleyball tryouts are today, and we need to give the welcoming speech to all of the newbies.”

"Got it!" She hollered back, struggling to balance all her books using only her elbows and knee.

Finally stuffing everything into the tiny locker, she slammed the door closed and sighed. Get to the locker, check. Survive the rest of the day, in progress.

 

╚═══ -ˋˏ *.·:·.⟐.·:·.* ˎˊ- ═══╝

 

Lunch finally rolled around after what seemed like eternity of listening to boring lectures, and Octavia headed the cafeteria. Students milled around her, heading toward tables or talking amongst each other. She grabbed some food and headed to the center of the room, where she knew her friends would be sitting.

In the middle of the cafeteria was a small table filled with her friends, laughing and talking. Bellamy sat in between Raven and Clarke, with Jasper and Monty across from them, and a board looking Murphy at the head of the table.

"Hey guys!” She greeted as she slid into a seat next to Monty.

”How was your first morning back O?” Jasper asked.

”Pretty good. I had Spanish, Math, and English, and got through without much homework.”

"Much better than mine," Bellamy groaned, ”I already got an extended biology assignment from Mr. Pike.”

Raven clapped her hands together and grinned. ”Oh man, I can't wait for bio later. I'm going to have so much fun this year.”

Let's hope not as much fun as last year. Clarke interjected. ”Your last ’fun experiment’ resulted in the lab getting blown up.”

”What can I say, all great scientists make mistakes.” Raven shrugged. ”Besides, it's not like anyone died.”

The friends laughed, and continued to casually banter about school, sports, and summer.

”You started football yet Bellamy?” Jasper inquired.

”Yeah, we have tryouts today.” he replied, leaning back into his chair. ”Have you girls started volleyball yet?”

”Tryouts are after lunch, first game on Friday against Polis.” Clarke supplied.

”Try to win, ” Monty pleaded wistfully. ”Last time you guys lost, Harper was basically in depression for a month.”

”So was I, ” Octavia muttered darkly.

”Also, I need an excuse to make some of my party moonshine.” He added.

As if on cue, Mr. Kane arrived at their table. They suddenly stopped talking and looked up at him innocently, except Monty, who suddenly became very interested in his lasagna.

”How is everyone's first day back?” He asked enthusiastically.

Most of them shrugged or mumbled ”good”, except for Raven, who said ”crappy as always!” in a bright tone.

Kane raised his eyebrow. ”Language Miss. Reyes. Are you girls excited for tryouts later?”

All the girls smiled and nodded at this. Mr. Kane was a good math teacher, but he was an even better volleyball coach.

”If you all got my email, you should know that Clarke and Octavia will be co-captaining this season, ” he continued, ”and you girls along with Harper will be doing main selections, but anyone you pick will have to be run by me first.”

“Got it, coach.” Raven said with a salute.

Mr. Kane smiled. “Have a good lunch ladies.”

 

╚═══ -ˋˏ *.·:·.⟐.·:·.* ˎˊ- ═══╝

 

After lunch, Octavia went to her locker to drop her stuff off, promising to meet the team in the gym as soon as possible. She deposited her books in her locker quickly and then left.

Bright green grass was immaculately cut, and flowers were in full bloom. The brunette walked across campus to the gym, taking in her school. Lots of students were outside, all seemingly heading to the football field and the north or south gym. Afternoon classes were always canceled on the first day back for this exact reason.

She finally reached the stony building and swung open the heavy double doors, smiling as she entered. The one side of the wall was covered in blue bleachers, and the other had a large mural with the words 'Arkadia High Arkers' sprawled across it. The ceilings were high and vaulted, and the light wood floor was gleaming.

Arkadia high had an amazing athletics program, although they were a small school. Their boy's football team and girls varsity volleyball where especially competitive. They often won state championships, with only a few schools challenging them.

In the center of the gym stood the only original members of Arkadia's senior volleyball team, surrounded by a flock of girls. The team was mainly composed of seniors last year, and with all of them now gone for college, they had four open spots. Raven, Harper, Clarke, and her were running the tryouts, being on the team last year. She and Clarke had been appointed co-captains for this years team, and both girls were ecstatic to start the season.

Octavia walked over to her friends who were surrounded by at least fifty girls.

"Holy shit," muttered Raven, "It's like half the schools here."

Clarke nodded. "We're going to be cutting a lot of people."

"Let's start then!" Octavia exclaimed.

Harper wolf-whistled loudly, and the chatter died down as all the students turned to face Clarke and Octavia.

"Welcome to tryouts, everyone!" Clarke beamed. "We're so excited to see everyone out here! As you all probably know, we only have spots for three players this year, but we will be taking a few alternates-"

"Just don't get super pissed if you're not picked." Raven interjected. The blonde glared at her. "Now continue, captain."

Octavia grinned. "We will be taking two middles, and a power hitter, and an alternate for each," she continued. "This will be the only tryout, so do your best here. Results will be on the notice board tomorrow."

"Get to it!" Raven shouts, and everyone disperses into individual warmups.

The Latina turned to face her friends. "This is going to be one hell of a season."

All of the girls finished their warm ups in a matter of minutes and quickly broke into drills run by some teachers while the team members stood holding clipboards.

“Alright,” said Octavia, “We need some middles.”

At her words, Raven instantly started crossing out names.

“What are you doing Raven?”

Raven continued scanning the list. “I’m crossing out anyone who's under 5’10.”

“What if they can jump high?” Clarke interjected. “We should give them a chance.”

Raven rolled her eyes. “I don’t care if they can jump high. They can be hitters. I need tall middles who can block with us powers, because some of us are too short to be very useful at the net.”

“That includes you.” Octavia reminded her. “You're only 5’7."

Raven dismissed her with a wave of her hand and strode off to watch the middles. 

Octavia rolled her eyes. “We should split up.” She turned to her friends. “I can look at some hitters with Clarke, and Harper, you can go with Raven.”

“Dammit,” Harper muttered as she walked away.

Octavia grinned, and she and Clarke went to watch the hitters go through a drill. Most of the girls were decent. There were a few freshmen that were clearly here for fun. Two of them were wearing skirts (they left after Raven yelled ‘Out!’ and started throwing balls at them). Some other students were too worried about breaking their nails once the drills actually started, so they ended up sitting in the bleachers complaining about how hard the balls were the entire time.

Not everyone was a complete train wreck, however. One player instantly caught the two captains eyes, a girl with Dutch braids named Zoe who was decently tall.

“What about her?” Clarke questioned, pointing at Zoe as she hit a hard line shot. “She’s tall too. Raven will like her.”

Octavia nodded in agreement. “Put her down on the list, along with the pale blonde.”

Tryouts flew by uneventfully past that. Raven and Harper found two middles (leggy girls named Fox and Trina), and it looked like they were going to take Zoe as a power hitter.

By the end of the school day, the four teammates were exhausted and had finally wrapped up the tryouts.

“Don’t forget to check the notice board tomorrow!” Harper yelled after the retreating girls.

The four sat down in the bleachers, Raven sighing dramatically, bent over clipboards.

“What did everyone think?” Clarke asked, writing something down.

Raven tossed her clipboard aside and kicked her feet up. “Not everyone's as talented as me, that’s for sure.”

“Real opinions please!”

“That was real princess.” Raven winked. “I liked that Zoe girl for a power. Not too short, not too annoying.”

“I liked her too.” Harper piped in. “O?”

“She was good.” Octavia agreed. “I’ll put her down as our power. What do we have for middles?”

“Fox and Trina were the only good ones that met Raven's height requirement.”

“And they’re now in the team too,” Raven said, adding the two girls names to the list. “Fabulous! Practice times?”

“Everyday after school, two hours.” Octavia replied instantly. “Our first game is this Friday, and it’s against Polis High.”

Polis High School was the only thing that normally kept them from winning a state title in varsity volleyball every year. They were the only other high school in Ton D.C. and twice the size of Arkadia. The two schools had a fierce rivalry going on for as long as anyone in town could remember, that often involved sabotage. All the kids in the town were divided between the two sides, while the adults normally pretended the rivalry didn’t exist. Some people, however, still had not quite let go of their high school days and were equally as competitive as the teens.

All the girls nodded at her words. The entire school, athlete, nerd, drama kids, basically everyone had some competition against Polis. And as could be predicted, everyone did whatever it took to win.

“Alright, we’ll tell Coach Kane tomorrow after we post the list.” Clarke said.

Octavia grinned. Another year, another season, another chance to win a state title.


	2. Our Season

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for still sticking with me after the whole multiple works incident. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
> 
> Also, I know the end notes are the same as the end of last chapter, but they won't go away. I don't actually have end end notes selected for this chapter, so if anyone knows how to fix this it would be greatly appreciated.

The rest of the week flew by in a flurry of classes and volleyball practice. Both of the Blake siblings were rarely home anymore, as Bellamy also played varsity football. With both kids gunning for a scholarship, they were often at practice, in the gym, or volunteering.

Finally, after what seemed like a century, it was time for the first volleyball game of the season. All the girls were getting ready in the locker room, and pride swelled through Octavia when she looked around. The girls had practiced like crazy for the last week, and it had paid off.

Fox, Zoe, and Trina had really improved. They were all friendly and hardworking, and even Raven had to admit they were pretty good. The rest of the team had also improved throughout the practices, and they probably had a chance to beat the Polis High Grounders.

All the girls had finally changed into their white and blue jerseys and the team hit the court, following their two captains.

They walked through the grey hallways silently, gentle thudding of feet echoing in the school halls. Shining trophies, bright banners, golden plaques, and other awards were all over the hallway, along with team photos.Arkadia liked to flaunt their athletic achievements, and it showed. 

The team seemed nervous. Octavia could sense everyone reliving last years travesty. They had won most of their games against Polis High, but two of their best hitters and Clarke had gotten food poisoning right before the game. The team was then slaughtered in the finals.

“Nervous?” Octavia asked Clarke.

“Just a little.” The blonde replied. “What if I mess up the quickset?”

“You won’t Clarke. You’re the best setter we have.”

The team reached the gym doors, and pushed them open to reveal a packed gym. Now full, half of the light blue bleachers were stuffed with cheering students and grownups alike, donning blue hues.

On the other half were teenagers and some adults wearing red and black, the colors of Polis High. There was a clear separation between the two schools, and some people were standing rather than sitting in the enemy’s side.

At the sight of the team, Arkadias side let out a huge roar of approval. The girls beamed. High school sports were a big event in this town, and the entire student body normally turned out, along with some parents and sports fanatics. On the opening game of the season, however, almost the entire town showed up

The team made their way over to a bench, all a bundle of nerves. They found Coach Kane sitting there, writing a lineup.

He looked up and saw them, a smile on his face. “First game of the season ladies! Has everyone done a dynamic warmup and stretched already?”

All the girls nodded. They were well aware of the pre-game routine, and stuck to a strict schedule.

Kane nodded. “Good. This is the first game, and one of the hardest game you ladies will play all season. Stay calm, work together, and I think you girls can win. Middles, be sure to seal the block. Octavia, watch out for the hard line shot. Lexa Woods is an exceptionally good power hitter. Raven, Zoe, they have a right side almost as good as ours. Stay alert for anything.” He grinned up at them. “Let’s do this ladies. Everyone start a ball warmup, and captains, come to the coin toss.

They all cheered and headed off to the court. On the other side of the court were the Grounders, just finishing their team meeting as well. Octavia and Clarke went and shook hands with the ref, and waited for the other captain.

“Who do you think it is this year?” Octavia whispered to Clarke. "The old captain graduated."

“Probably one of the powers.” Clarke replied, eyeing the team.

One of the Polis High girls started to walk towards them, a gorgeous brunette with emerald eyes and chestnut hair pulled into a high ponytail with braids. Lexa Woods. She strode over to the pair confidently.

"Are we ready for the toss?" She asked cooley, face masking emotion.

Octavia nodded while Clarke stood next to her motionless, mouth slightly open.

"Alright!" Said the ref cheerily. "Grounders heads, Arkers tails."

She tossed to coin up and grabbed it, placing it in her hand. Tails.

The ref put away her coin "Arkers, you have first serve. Good luck ladies, and before you go, Miss Griffin, Miss Blake, Miss Woods, please sign the score sheet quickly."

Lexa signed first, and passed the pen and sheet to Octavia. She took it and signed, and then handed it to Clarke, who had snapped out of her trance. The captains then shook hands, and headed back to the court.

“Someone has a crush,” Octavia teased with a smirk as they walked onto the court.

“No!” Clarke shot back quickly. “I mean, she’s pretty, but she’s from Polis. I would never date someone from there.”

Since the two schools were constantly at war, dating options were pretty much limited to just your school. The last time someone from Arkadia had dated a Polis student, both of the teens were casted out by almost all of the students in their schools. That relationship lasted about a week.

The two captains started a ball warmup, and the team moved through serving and hitting. Finally, it was time to play.

Octavia, Clarke, Raven, Zoe, Trina, and Fox lined up on the end line, ready to play. Harper sat on the bench, ready to sub in for any players.

Octavia was left handed and fairly tall (5’11), so she played right side. Clarke was their setter and had been for a long time. Fiery Raven was a power hitter, and was one of the best in the state. Harper was their Libero, who's passing was matched only by Polis Highs.

On the opposite side of the court were the Polis volleyball players. First was Octavia's arch nemesis, Echo Teles, another right side. Next were their two middles, Ontari and Nia Queen. Lined up beside them was Niylah Cru, a setter that was almost as good as Clarke. Then came the two powers, Anya Pine and the captain Lexa Woods. Seated on the bench was their Libero, Emori Sands.

All of the girl's faces were stoic, and Octavia nervously paced in place. Her heart thundered in her chest, and she could feel the tension in the air. The refs whistle blew and the teams went up to shake hands as the crowd cheered. Everyone went to their starting positions, and the game began.

 

╚═══ -ˋˏ *.·:·.⟐.·:·.* ˎˊ- ═══╝

 

Two hours later the match was still going. It had been a long and grueling game so far, with two evenly matched teams. There had been multiple timeouts and substitutions on each side, but luckily no injuries yet. Games that involved Polis High tended to get physical sometimes. The Arkers had just barely won the first set 25-21, and the score was currently 24-24 for the Grounders in the second set.

Lexa had the ball and was ready to serve for game point. Octavia was in the front with Raven and Fox, and Harper had gone in for Trina in the back.

The whistle blew, and Lexa bounced the ball against the floor. She stepped back and tossed it up, hitting a perfect float right to the seam in between Harper and Clarke.

Harper passed it up to the middle of the court, and Clarke ran in to run a backseat to Octavia on the right side. The setter pushed it just over the high of the net to her, but she was expecting it.

Seeing an opening in the block as she flew in, Octavia turned the hit straight down the line at the last second. It thundered down to the ground as Anya dove towards it, but she was too late. The hitter dove right through it as the ball hit the court, and a huge cheer erupted from the stands.

Yes! Octavia shouted in her head. She beamed as the girls huddled in the middle of the court quickly, high-fiving, and Raven was passed the ball.

“Time for some Raven magic.” The brunette said as she walked towards the end line. She stood a few paces back from the blue end line, bouncing the ball. Everyone in the stands was holding their breath as the sound of the referees whistle cut through the air.

Raven confidently bounced the ball once more, and tossed it up high for a jump spin serve. She made perfect contact as she leaped towards the court, and the ball sailed through the air with deadly spin.

It found the gap between a disgruntled Anya and the sideline. She tried to reach out and pass it, but it clipped the side of her arm. Emori sprinted after it and dove to get it. She succeeded and the ball sailed back into the court, causing a huge cheer from the grounders side, and a sigh from Arkadias.

Lexa hit the ball from the back row to a deep corner, but Raven passed it up easily. Clarke then flew in and pushed a quick set up to Fox. The tall girl leaped into the air and hit the ball down into the other side.

Lexa dove for the ball but it sailed past her, and it hit the glistening hardwood floor with a thud.

Cheers erupted from the crowd, a sea of blue and white jumping into the air. Polis High fans sat in their chairs gloomily.

The Arkadia volleyball team ran into the center of the court beaming, all high fiving and laughing. As she stood in the center of the court surrounded by her friends, Octavia had never felt more at home.

 

╚═══ -ˋˏ *.·:·.⟐.·:·.* ˎˊ- ═══╝

 

The energetic team all chatted excitedly in the change room, pulling on sweatshirts and sweatpants.

”That was amazing guys!” Clarke gushed.

”I know!” said Harper excitedly. ”That was the perfect way to start the season.”

”They are never going to live down losing that match!” Race cackled gleefully. ”The look on Lexa Woods face when we won that last point was even better than when my grandma found her dead parrot.”

At her words, the entire team stopped talking and stared at the brunette.

”What?” Raven asked. ”She fainted right onto the ice sculpture of him she had just ordered.”

Everyone continued to stare in silence.

“You know what, let’s move on from that. Who’s coming to the after party?”

“When is it?” Clarke inquired as she slid her blue and white jersey into her bag.

“It’s a bonfire on Floukru Beach, two hours from now hosted by Monty and yours truly.”

Harper groaned. “This is going to be one of your insane drinking parties again, isn’t it?”

Raven feigned a look of shock, putting a hand to her chest. “Insane? I think not. It’s just a bit of homemade moonshine as Monty promised, and maybe a teeny bit of rocket fuel.”

Octavia rolled her eyes as this. “A teeny bit?” She inquired incredulously. “Last time I let you give me your weird rocket fuel drink, I couldn’t remember anything that had happened from the last five days.”

Also, Raven, plus fire, plus alcohol, sounds like a trip to the hospital for someone.” Clarke interjected.

“Oh please,” Raven scoffed. “what could go wrong?”

The team looked up at her like she was insane. Everyone knew about Raven and her love for blowing things up.

“Did you really just ask that?” Trina groaned.

Raven shook her head and swung her bag over her shoulder. “Don’t question it, just be there!” She called back as she waltzed out of the change room happily.

Octavia and Clarke laughed, shaking their heads. The rest of the team slowly left, with promises to be at Ravens after party, until it was just Octavia left.

She finally finished her stretching, and grabbed her bag. As she walked out of the change room she smiled and went on auto-pilot, having walked down these halls many times before. Octavia had been living in Ton D.C. ever since she was two, and had started going to Arkadia in grade nine. That same year she had joined the volleyball team, having played club a few years before that.

The grade nine team that year had won against Polis's team. They had then lost in her grade ten year, and unfortunately lost again due to food poisoning in grade eleven. Octavia had a sneaking suspicion that Polis High was behind that.

But this year was their year. Arkadias team had started out strong, and they had some really good players. It was her last chance to win a state title, and Octavia planned on doing it.

She was so lost in thought, that she didn't even notice the person turning the corner in the hallway. Turning sharply, she ran straight into a large figure, and fell abruptly onto her back.

The wind was knocked out of her, and she gasped for breath as her back hit the concrete floor.

"I'm so sorry." A deep voice said worriedly. "I didn't see you coming."

A large hand was extended towards her and she grabbed it, pulling herself up.

"No, it's my fault." She apologized hurriedly, brushing herself off. "I wasn't paying attention."

Octavia looked up, and locked eyes with the poor person she had run into for the first time. Suddenly, she felt her breath leave again.

Standing in front of her was a young man with tanned skin, and dark, worried eyes. His head was almost entirely shaved, except for a light strip running down the middle. He had the start of a stubbly beard, and his mouth was upturned in a good-natured way. She could see toned, muscled arms under a black leather jacket.

"Are you okay?" He asked, snapping her out of her daze.

"Huh?" Oh, yeah I'm fine." She replied quickly, internally screaming at herself for being so ditzy. "I think the floor got the worst of it."

He smiled at her, and her heart fluttered. "That's good. I watched the game tonight, and I think Arkadia needs their best-"

"Octavia!" A shrill voice cut him off.

Octavia turned to see her mom behind her, wearing various shades of blue and waving a pair of sparkly white pom poms. She groaned internally. Perfect timing mom.

"Guess I'd better go," She said, turning back to the young man.

"I'll see you around." He promised. "Have a good night."

She smiled once more. "See you around."

Octavia walked off towards her mom, cursing the bad timing.

"You played so well today sweetie!" Aurora exclaimed, pulling her daughter into a hug once she was close enough. "I almost had a heart attack, that game was so close, but if you keep this up you girls will win the state championships this year!"

"Don't jinx it!" Octavia teased.

"If the team keeps up the hard work, it won't matter. Oh, and who was that guy you were talking to?" She added. "He was pretty cute..."

The brunette groaned. "He's just some guy I met in the hallway. You don't need to start planning a wedding yet."

Her mom laughed and put her hands up. "Ok, ok. I won't worry about floral arrangements until you start dating."

Octavia listened to the rest of her mother's aimless chatter, but couldn't stop thinking of the hallway guy. She wished she had at least found out his name. But it was a small town. Eventually, she would have to see him again...


	3. G.I. Clarke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter after this may be a bit late, sorry everyone!

The south side of Ton D.C. was located along the edge of the Potomac River, and along the riverbed there were three main beaches. Two were large, sandy beaches for families, easily accessible by road. The other was a five-minute hike away from the main road and mostly used by the teenagers and college students of the town.

This was Floukru beach, and by the time Octavia had arrived there the after party was already in full swing. She had walked past giggling drunk girls, and some couples making out in the forest, to finally reach the beach.

The large expanse of sand was surrounded by forest, with rocky cliffs near each side. Although banned by the city after someone had almost died there, they were sued for cliff jumping. Stars shone above in the cloudless sky, and the full moon was bright.

Near the ocean was a large bonfire, about six feet tall, with multiple kegs next to it. Slightly more sober teens talked and laughed around it, while others danced to the music blasting from a speaker. This was another plus about Floukru: There were no houses nearby.

She finally spotted all of her friends over by a flat rock. Bellamy and Raven were having a shot contest, and all of her friends were cheering them on, except for Murphy who was casually sitting on a log. Harper was also absent, but she had told the team that she would be coming later tonight.

"Go Bellamy, go!" Jasper cheered.

"Shut it Jordan! Clarke retorted. The blonde's hair was a mess and she was swaying slightly. "Ravens going to kick his ass!"

Octavia walked over to her friends and sat down beside Murphy. "Are they all drunk already?" She asked worriedly.

"Some more than others." He replied, looking at the group. "I'd give it five minutes until Bellamy takes his shirt off."  
"Two."

Suddenly a huge cheer erupted from the group, and her friends started jumping up and down.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Raven shouted. "Reyes one, Blake zerooooo!"

She started a sloppy victory dance that looked like a mix of the macarena and twerking. Clarke and Jasper stood beside each other, arm in arm, singing 'We Are The Champions", as Bellamy drunkenly tried to get more drinks.

Raven suddenly noticed Octavia and stumbled over to her.

"Better Blake!" She slurred, pulling her into a sloppy hug. "You came to witness my victory!"

Octavia winced at the tightness of Raven's hug. Although the Latina could hold her liquor well, Octavia suspected she had had a few too many drinks. As in ten too many.

Octavia carefully detached herself from Raven. "How many shots did you have Raven?"

"Just five." The brunette said. "But it may have been a teeny bit more."

The rest of her friends made their way over the log and sat down with them. Bellamy was balancing a large tray of drinks, and as predicted, his shirt was already gone.

"Oh great, it's the tipsy Brady Bunch." Murphy groaned.

"I'm the only tipsy one here Murphy," Monty said, looking around with concern. "The rest of them won't remember a thing tomorrow.

Bellamy passed Octavia a drink which she gratefully accepted, but she grimaced when she took a sip. Moonshine. No wonder everyone was so drunk.

The group of friends sat together, talking loudly and complaining about teachers. Eventually, all the guys went off (except Murphy), saying something about beer pong. The girls stayed for a few more minutes, before Raven had enough.

“Ok, enough sitting,” Raven announced, standing abruptly. “Time to party!”

"I'm out." Murphy said, looking at a piece of wood he had started to carve. "I'm not going to be your wingman again."

Octavia rolled her eyes. "One bad moment and he's turned off the experience forever." She sighed sadly.

The Latina pulled a now slightly more tipsy Octavia, and a very drunk Clarke towards the dance floor. All three girls danced together, bodies swaying in time to the music.

Octavia felt a tap on her shoulder, and turned to see Atom and Finn. Raven looked over as well and stopped dancing when she saw the two. Clarke however, didn't notice at all, and proceeded to join a sloppy conga line.

“What do you want Finn?” Raven asked in a bored tone. “And no, I'm not drunk enough to hook up with you again.”

Raven and Finn had dated throughout grade ten and eleven. She had first met him when she repaired his car at the auto shop she worked for, and the two had hit it off. But at the end of grade eleven, Finn had kissed a very unwilling Clarke. Raven had not taken it very well.

Finn put his hands up, in which he held two cups. “Just seeing if you two ladies wanted a drink.”

“I just wanted to say hi,” Atom said, smiling at Octavia.

Atom had been Octavia's first (and only) boyfriend. They had dated for half a year in grade eleven, but had mutually broken up after a few months. She hadn't really seen anyone since that. There were multiple one night make out sessions, but never much more. The two were still friends however, unlike Raven and Finn.

“I’ll accept the drink,” Octavia said, smiling back, “But I’m going to have to decline for Raven, unless it's just water you have in that cup.”

Atom handed her a cup as Raven protested. “I’m fine!” She dismissed. “I only had, like, twelve shots!”

Octavia whirled around to face her. “I thought you said five!”

“Maybe I was a number or two off, I was a bit too busy to count.”

Octavia shook her head and she and Raven began to dance with the guys. Although Raven had said that she wasn't too drunk, she was starting to inch closer and closer to Finn.

Things got crazier as the night went on. More people arrived, the fire got larger, and the music blasted. Octavia eventually lost most of her friends except for a very ditzy Clarke, who had rejoined them after the conga line. Clarke was definitely wasted. She didn't normally get this drunk, but when she did, it was bad. The blonde had two alter personalities whenever she had too much to drink: Bitchy Clarke and Airhead Clarke. Bitchy Clarke came out during the shot contest, but had died down after multiple threats on the life of Jasper's gerbil. Airhead Clarke was here now, and the usually intelligent girl was acting like a total bubblehead.

The two of them were dancing with a big group of people, when suddenly the music died down. Whispers began to fill the cool night air instead.

"What the hell?" Clarke whined. "What happened?"

The once fun atmosphere was now tense, and people were looking towards the forest.

Confused, Octavia began to elbow her way through the crowd, Clarke stumbling behind her. She pushed aside whispering teens, until she had gotten to the front. There stood Bellamy, Raven, Jasper, and Murphy. And across from them were Anya Pine, Echo Teles, and two other taller guys she didn’t recognize but were clearly from Polis High.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Bellamy asked threateningly.

A cocky grin spread across Anya's face. “This is a public beach, isn’t it? I don’t need an invite to come.”

Tension hung in the air, as Bellamy’s hands curled into fists. Everyone was on edge, ready to leave at a split second

“Yeah, well we don’t want people like you here,” Raven said angrily.

One of the large men next to Anya stepped over to Raven. He was at least a head taller than her, but she stood her ground, glaring up at him.

“What do you mean by that?” He growled.

Anya, still standing by the forest quietly said, “Stand down Nyko.”

If he heard her, Nyko paid no attention. Raven was looking a bit less brave now, but to her credit, she still hadn’t moved.

“I mean, we don’t like to be around sneaky, sabotaging scumbags.” The Latina spat. “Don’t think we don’t know that you weren’t behind the slashed tires on the team van! Or the stolen equipment! Or the food poisoning at last years finals!”

Echo walked up towards Raven, fuming with rage. “We never did any of that you idiotic Arker! You sure did though!”

“Get back Echo!” Anya shouted, dark eyes flashing warningly. Both Echo and Nyko ignored her, and the man next to her started moving forwards as well.

“What the fuck did we ever do?” Raven shouted. “We played clean!”

The crowd had gathered closer, everyone huddled defensively around their own. People had put down their drinks, and some even had their fists ready to fight.

“Like hell you did!” Nyko laughed. “The missing uniforms? Plant killer in our sprinkler systems?”

He took a second threatening step towards Raven, and Bellamy clearly had enough.

Bellamy shoved Nyko back, causing him to stumble backward, and he stepped protectively in front of Raven. “Stay away from her, grounder!”

“Too far, pretty boy,” Nyko whispered. He lunged forward, and threw a punch at Bellamy.

All of hell broke loose.

Nyko fist made contact with Bellamy’s jaw, and he stumbled back. Raven took the opportunity and hit Echo with an uppercut to her jaw. Anya and the other man ran in to help, and so did Murphy and Jasper.

Teens from the party charged in as well, or ran to the forest to leave. Chaos was everywhere, and Octavia pulled Clarke towards the forest. The girls sprinted amongst the stampede of bodies, through the brush. They stumbled along, until they were a minute in. Octavia stopped next to a log, catching her breath.

“Clarke, stay here.” She panted, standing next to the blonde.

“Why?” Clarke questioned. “I want to help.”

Octavia sighed. “Your drunk, Clarke. Stay here, I’ll be back in one second.”

Clarke sullenly agreed, sitting down on the log, and Octavia ran back towards the beach. “Drink some water!” She called over her shoulder.

Octavia raced back through the woods, branches whipping at her hair. Her bare legs got cut by low bushes, but she didn’t care. Adrenaline pumped through her veins, mixed with fear and concern for her friends. She reached the beach, and saw only nine people remained.

Her brother was fighting Nyko and the tall grounder with the help of Jasper and Murphy. Raven, Finn, and Atom were fighting Anya and Echo. A startled looking Monty was standing near her watching it all, too passive and kind-hearted to take place in the fighting. The Asian boy rushed over when he saw her.

“What are we going to do O?” He asked worriedly. “It’s not an even match. Everyone but Murphy is drunk, and the grounders are good fighters. They’re going to get killed.”

As Octavia watched, she had to agree. “We need to stop them.”

“How?”

The brunette looked around wildly. There was nothing she could use as a distraction, and the fire was out. If she went in there she’d only make things worse, and there’s no way she would be able to yell over the noise.

The fight was getting worse. Her brother took a huge blow to the head, and Raven got knocked off her feet by Echo. All the other teens were still fighting, but the Arkers we’re slowly losing the battle. Anya swiped at Finn's head, her fist connecting with his nose. Atom kicked her stomach in return, and the girl stumbled-

BANG!

Suddenly, a shot cut through the air. Everyone stopped fighting, looking around wildly, searching for the shooter. Their eyes finally landed on the rocky ridge. There, standing atop a boulder, holding what looked like a black pistol was… Clarke and Harper?

The teens stood frozen, staring. On the ridge was Clarke, gun in one hand and water bottle in the other. Next to her was Harper, eyes wide.

“Everyone step back from each other!” Clarke shouted. They all stood frozen in disbelief. “Now!”

Slowly, they all moved back. Some of the teens even put their hands in the air. The grounders looked alarmed and somewhat frightened. All of her friends however, looked too confused to be afraid.

“Holy shit Clarke, what are you doing?!?” Raven asked hysterically.

“Shut it, Reyes!” The blonde yelled back. “Grounders, I’m giving you twenty seconds to get out of my sight and leave. Twenty, nineteen, eighteen, seventeen…”

“Move it guys!” Anya called, as she slowly turned around. The rest of the grounders looked between Clarke and Anya, eyes darting nervously. They too turned around slowly.

“Twelve, eleven, ummm… What comes next Harper?” Clarke asked, tapping her chin.  
“Ten.” Harper whispered nervously. ”Clarke, you’re a bit drunk-”

“Right!” Clarke said, snapping her fingers, ignoring Harper. “Ten, nine, eight…”

But the Polis High teens were long gone, and had disappeared into the forest. Octavia rushed over to her friends.

“Are you guys alright?” She asked quickly.

Bellamy was covered in cuts, and his eye was already beginning to swell shut. Murphy and Jasper weren’t in much better condition, and Finn and Atom both had bloody noses in addition to multiple scrapes. They were all leaning against trees, or seated on the soft ground.

“I think we’re okay.” Raven groaned, nursing her injured leg. Her brace had a large crack through it. “Damn grounder broke my leg brace.”

Footstep thudded behind them. They all turned to see Clarke, grinning, holding her pistol.

“That was pretty cool, right guys?” Clarke said giddily, swaying slightly. “To think some people say I’m no fun.”

They all stared at the drunk Clarke in disbelief. Bellamy cautiously took a step towards the blonde carefully, wincing slightly as he moved. “Put down the gun Clarke.” He asked slowly. “I don’t know how you got it, but it’s not safe right now.”

Harper appeared next to Clarke, shaking her head. “It’s fine.”

“What the FUCKING HELL do you mean, it’s fine?” Raven screeched. “The drunk girl has a loaded gun!”

Clarke and Harper exchanged a look and burst into laughter. The others watched in confusion, still not daring to move. The two girls finally recovered from their laughing fit and explained.

“Do you honestly think I’d let someone who’s totally wasted have a loaded pistol?” Harper inquired incredulously. “It’s my little brother's pellet gun that he left in the car. When I got here, I saw everyone running out of the woods, and was about to leave before I saw all of your cars here. So I took the toy gun and went to find you. I figured it looked enough like a real pistol, and those little pellet things hurt.”

“Then she saw me!” Clarke interrupted.

“Yes,” Harper continued, “I found her sitting on a log, and she said something about everyone being in trouble, and how we had to save them. So she pulled me through the forest and grabbed the pellet gun.”

“And then we saved you!” Clarke cheered, jumping into the air. “Yay!”

“I didn’t know you guys were actually in that much trouble though,” Harper added. “I thought Raven had just accidentally blown a tree up or something.”

They all just sat in the sand, staring at the two girls in disbelief. 

“The end!” Clarke cheered, before promptly passing out on the beach.


	4. The Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ha...ha...ahah we STILL have notes at the bottom of the chapter. I have given up trying to fix it at this point. So here is a slightly shorter (but on time) new chapter. I really wanted to end this super dramatically, so here is a cliff hanger for you all...

Everyone had come back to the Blake’s house after the party. Thankfully, Aurora Blake had been gone on business the last few days, and wouldn’t be back until Monday. Octavia had gotten the first aid kit, and everyone had gathered in the living room, except for Finn, Atom, and Harper. They had decided to go home.

About half of the teens unscathed, but Bellamy, Jasper, Murphy, and Raven were all injured. Octavia was doctoring her brothers swollen eye, while the other helped out as well. Mugs of coffee had been placed in front of everyone but her (she had already drank what had reminded in the pot). Clarke was still asleep on the couch, but strong black coffee was ready for her when she woke up.

“The grounders have never done anything like that before.” Bellamy muttered, cleaning some of his cuts with care. “It’s always been sneaky, backhanded. Never so open.”

“Thigh thou,” Raven slurred. The brunette had a large swollen lip, and no one could really understand what she was saying anymore. “thits opthen warphare thow.”

“I agree with Raven.” Murphy said sullenly.

Octavia looked over at him questioningly. “How do you have any idea what she said?”

Murphy shrugged. “She said it’s open warfare now. No one’s able understand the first part of what she said though.”

“Thighm thurrond thy thidits.” Raven said. She fell back dramatically into her chair, and took her coffee. After taking a small sip, she winced.

“Thighs surrounded by chickens?” Monty questioned. Raven shook her head. “Thyme throwen with tidbits?”

Raven shook her head even more vivaciously, smacking her forehead with her palm.

“You know what, never mind. I do agree with the the previous statement though. Why did they come?”

Octavia pondered this thoughtfully. “It could be because we won..” she guessed slowly, “but they’ve never done anything like this before.”

“Did they maybe think we did something to them?” Jasper questioned thoughtfully. “They named all sorts of stuff that we never did, but they clearly think we were behind it.”

“We need to do something about this.” Monty said.

“Yeah, like get some revenge on that school.” Bellamy growled. Everyone looked up at him questioningly. “They came to one of our parties, and they started the fight. If we roll over and do nothing, what’s stopping them from coming back?”

“That’s not what I meant!” Monty interjected quickly. “We should go talk to them and maybe-“

Murphy cut him off. “I’m in. We can probably get the rest of the football team in too, Bellamy.”

Monty looked increasingly more worried.

“I’m in too then,” Jasper added.

“Thine thee up thwo!” Raven slurred excitedly, raising her hand.

Octavia remained quite. Bellamy looked over at his sister. “What do you say, O?” He asked. 

“I’m out.” Octavia responded quickly. Monty perked up at her words. “Just because five grounders did something, it dosnt mean everyone needs to pay.”

Bellamy just nodded, while Raven yelled, “Guitly thy association!”

Suddenly, they saw Clarke stirring on the couch. The blonde groaned, and then slowly sat up, hand on her head. She had been asleep for about two hours now. 

“What happened?” Clarke asked groggily. “Damnit, I drank to much didn’t I?” Then she looked around, and a shock crossed her face. Her eyes darted over Murphy, Bellamy, Jasper, Raven, and then took in Clarke and Monty’s grimm expressions.

Her mouth dropped open. “What. The. Hell. Happened?”

Everyone looked at each other fighting back laughter. Then, they all burst into explanation at once.

“Well, you were really drunk, and then some grounders from Polis showed up-“

“We all got into a big fight, and Octavia took you to the woods, and then came back-“

“We were super drunk, and losing super badly-“

“Shut up Murphy, we were totally winning. Anyways, then we heard a shot in the air-“

“And we saw you and Harper, and you had a gun-“

“But it was just a pellet g-“

“I SAID SHUT UP MURPHY! Anyways, you were super badass, and made them leave-“

“And then you shouted ‘Yay!’ and passed out.”

Clarke gaped at them, vaguely resembling a startled goldfish. She closed her mouth, but it dropped open again and a small squeak came out. “I… I… a gun… I had a gun?”

They all fell silent. Then Octavia caught Ravens eye, and it was all over. Everyone burst into laughter, as Clarke just stared.

 

╚═══ -ˋˏ *.·:·.⟐.·:·.* ˎˊ- ═══╝

 

Octavia woke up the next morning, a soft fluffy blanket tickling her nose. She was next to Raven, in a huge pile of pillows, a single blanket across them. Raven had an arm and a leg draped over her back.

Slowly, she sat up, cautiously moving the latinas limbs. She wasn’t too worried about waking Raven. In fourth grade, she had once slept through a fire alarm. Monty and Jasper were asleep on one light grey couch, with Bellamy (snoring loudly) and Clarke on the other. Octavia got up carefully, trying to not disturb her sleeping friends.

She slowly crept upstairs to her room, searching through her vast closet to find some jogging clothes. Although she occasionally ran throughout the weekdays, she never missed her Saturday morning run.

Quickly, she slipped on black shorts and a loose white crop top, and then pulled her hair into a high ponytail. On her way out, Octavia glanced at the clock. 5:45. She could be back before they woke up.

Sneakily, she went out the door without making a sound. Once she reached the end of her long driveway, she broke out into a jog, music blasting in her ears.

Crisp morning air whirled around her in the slight breeze. The sky was a moody blue, and the sun had no yet risen. She jogged past the houses for a few minutes, before turning off into a small gap in a row of hedges by the street. Squeezing through the tiny gap, she emerged on the other side to reveal a dirt trail, surrounded by trees and flora. 

Light cut through the canopy of leaves above Octavia as she ran, casting patterns on the dirt trail. Birds chirped, and squirrels darted between trees. Eventually the forest gave away to a clearing, and the trail led onto a large country road.

Octavia jogged along the side of the road, her eyes taking in the rolling hills around her. Soon she reached large fenced of pastures, with horses scattered inside of them. She ran past them, and turned down a driveway nearby.

The long driveway was lined with birch trees, and had the sides of pastures behind them. At the end was a stone wall with an opening, and a sign reading Sunny Lane Equine Rescue Center.

She reached a stony courtyard, surrounded by a U shaped wooden stables, horses heads poking over the stall doors. It was a nice place; each stall had a flower basket beside it (carefully hug away from the reach of curious horses) and the brass nameplates were shining.

Sunny Lane was a horse rescue and adoption center, just a few miles outside of town. Octavia had been volunteering there since seventh grade, along with Clarke. Raven, although she didn’t admit it, was afraid of horses. She would sometimes come by with the girls and pet them, but didn’t ever get on one or brush them.

But since school had just started this week, Octavia hadn’t been to the stables for a while. She had been to busy to come, putting most of her spare time into volleyball.

Smiling, Octavia pulled out her earbuds and walked over to a stall door. A scrawny chestnut horse with a long white blaze poked his head over when he heard her. He had some small cuts across his face, but his deep frown eyes were filled with happiness.

“Hey buddy.” She cooed as the horse nuzzled his head into her top. “Your looking better, huh?”

Her fingers traced the word Helios on the bronze nameplate. Helios was a rescue horse that had been found abandoned on the side of the road a month ago. He was her favourite, although she loved all the horses at Sunny Lane.

“Octavia!” A voice called out from behind her. She turned to see a tall women with dark hair, in her mid forties, with a smile on her face.

“Cooper!” Octavia greeted, grinning. “He’s getting so much better.”

Kara Cooper was the owner of Sunny Lane, and worked part time alongside the volunteers. She had first started it a ten years ago for old race horses, but it had quickly expanded to all equines in need of help. When Cooper wasn’t at the shelter, she was working as a veterinarian.

Cooper walked over to the brunette and the horse. “I know. We expect him to be ready for adoption by the spring. He just needs to gain some weight, heal a bit more, and then become a bit more trusting around people.”

Cooper surveyed Octavia’s outfit. “I’m guessing that your not staying to help today?” 

Octavia shook her head. “No, just out for a quick run” she replied sadly, “I have to finish homework when I get back.” That was a bit of a lie, unless homework counted as hungover friends. “But I’m going to be here all day tomorrow.” She added.

Cooper nodded. “I’ll see you and Clarke tomorrow then. I have to go now, fixing some fences in the south field, but have fun on your jog!” She walked off and waved goodbye to her.

Octavia waved back, and gave Helios one last pat. “I’ll be here all day to see you tomorrow,” she promised. Helios stared back at her with warm brown eyes, and sneezed.

Grinning, she slipped her earbuds back in and jogged back towards the forest. The sun was now up, and Octavia guessed she had been jogging for about an hour. She needed to get back before her friends woke up.

Five minutes later, she turned back into the woods. The trail was still empty, as not many people knew about it. She ran down the dirt trail in serean silence, except for the music thumping in her ears.

Suddenly, she heard a loud snapping sound. She whipped her earbuds out, and looked around wildly. It cracked again, and her head flew up. 

A low hanging branch, just dangling onto its tree, fell down to the ground. Octavia darted out of the way just in time, falling backwards. It hit the trail with a thud, and she sighed in relief.

She got up quickly, and dusted herself off. Carefully, she walked over to the branch. She knelt down to look at the snapped limb, and was confused when she saw it. There was no break in the branch, and the one end had no splintered ends except for the bottom. 

It looked so clean. Almost like someone had cut it down…

Slowly, she stood up. Pretending to be putting her earbuds back in, she cautiously looked around the trees. It all looked fine… but then she saw a flash of dark red material poking out from behind a tree.

Her heart hammered in her chest. Quickly she leaped over the branch, and ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Trees were a blur around her, wind whipped through her hair. 

She came to a sharp corner in the trail, and slowed down a bit. Suddenly, her foot caught on the side of a rock. Loosing her balance, she flew forwards, off the side of the path.

On the other side of the trail was a steep hill, covered in rocks and sticks. Octavia rolled down the hill, and her head hit a stump. Pain exploded in the back of her skull, and then everything went black.

 

╚═══ -ˋˏ *.·:·.⟐.·:·.* ˎˊ- ═══╝

 

The forest was silent, aside from nature’s quite symphony. Bird a sang in the trees, and bees buzzed around bushes. A slight wind cut through the air.

On the bottom of a hill lay a girl with long, dark hair. She was wearing a white crop top, and black jogging shorts. The side of her head was covered in crimson blood, spread over her skull like a spiders web.

Her legs and arms were cut, and she was covered in mud and scrapes. She lay still, with slow breaths.

Someone ran over to her, and rolled her over onto her front. They then noticed the blood on her head. Carefully, the person picked her up, wary of the injured girls head.

They then turned back in the direction of the town, cradling the brunette in their arms.


	5. Romance & Bagels

Blurry shapes filled Octavia’s vision. She could feel a throbbing pain in her head, and she blinked quickly. The shapes slowly fell into place. 

She was sitting on a light blue couch. Across from her was a low wooden coffee table, candle in the center. Off to one side was a large bookshelf, and on the other side of the room was a white stone fireplace. She could see a large deck outside of glass French doors. 

Where was she?

Slowly, the day came rushing back to her. Jogging, the woods, noticing someone had cut the branch, falling… panic surged through her. Was this the home of whoever cut the branch?

But as she looked around, the seaside inspired home didn't really look like a serial killers layer. The walls were a light blue, and there were small paintings and seashells everywhere. Furthermore, a fluffy white blanket was spread over her. Huh. She had been expecting a black basement with metal bars or something.

She looked down at her arms, and saw that they had small scrapes on them. But when she reached up to touch her head, she felt a bandage instead of a cut. Someone must have cleaned her wound.

“You’re up.” A voice from behind her said. Octavia quickly sat up, gasping when pain shot through her body. She turned to see who was behind her. 

It was the hallway guy (she really needed to find out his name) from the first game! This time he was dressed casually in jeans and a forest green shirt, holding a blue and white striped mug.

“What… what happened?” Octavia groaned.

He walked over to her with a smile, and placed a cup of steaming liquid in front of her. Causally, he sat on the low wooden table.“I was going for a run, when I saw you near the side of the trail. You had blood all over your head, so I brought you back here. How are you feeling?” He asked worriedly.

“Thank you.” Octavai said in awe. This was like something straight out of Clarkes romance novels. “My head hurts a bit, but I think I’m fine.” Hallway guy perked up a bit hearing that. This brought another questione to her mind. 

“May I ask what my saviours name is?” She questioned teasingly, trying to disguise her feeling of giddiness.

“Lincoln,” he replied, dark eyes locked with hers. “And if I remember correctly, your name is Octavia?”

Her heart leapt. He remembered her name. She then silently scolded herself. No. You do not fall head over heels for some random guys you’ve only met twice. “Yeah.” She replied. “How long have I been out for?”

Lincoln checked his watch. “About two hours. It’s almost nine right now.”

“Oh no.” Octavia moaned. Her friends were going to be freaking out. Especially Bellamy. It would be a miracle if he hadn’t tried to file a missing persons report yet.

“Family at home?” Lincoln asked, noticing her expression. “I tried to see if there was anyone to call when I found you, but your phone’s broken. It took a pretty tough fall.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a smashed phone apologetically. 

“I think I took a pretty tough fall.” She joked. Lincoln laughed, and she felt her heart flutter. “No parents at home though. My mom’s away on business, but a bunch of my friends an overprotective big brother are at home.”

“Where’s your dad?” He inquired.

Octavia’s smile faded. “He’s dead.” She said with a small shrug.

Lincoln put a hand on her leg. Her heart did a full on somersault. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know.” He said quietly, tone apologetic.

“It’s okay,” Octavia said with a small smile. “I didn’t even know him. He died after my brother was born. Do you have any family in here right now?” She asked. She didn’t really know how old he was, but he looked around her age.

“Yeah,” Lincoln’s replied casually. “No one's here right now, but I live with my mom and stepdad, and my half sister. My cousin also lives with us.”

Octavia took a sip of the warm liquid in front of her. Green tea.

“So how did you end up lying at the bottom of a slope with a bleeding head?” He questioned.

“I was on a jog, and a branch almost hit me. Then I kept running, but I tripped on a rock. And fell off a cliff.” Octavia paused for a second. “Wow, that does sound a lot more stupid out loud.”

Lincoln laughed. “Not your finest moment I'm guessing?”

Suddenly the door flew open, and arguing voices emerged.

“It was totally in!”

“Like hell it was Woods! Even if it did go in, your toe was over the line.”

“How were you watching the ball and my foot at once?!?!”

“I JUST WAS!”

The two shouting girls walked into the living room, and froze at what they saw. Octavia, clutching a cup of tea, sitting across (by less that a foot) from Lincoln. Who still had his hand on her leg. He quickly pulled it back at the sight of the two girls, who Octavia assumed were his sister and cousin. But then her mouth fell open when she saw who the women were.

Lexa Woods and Anya Pine stood across from her, frozen in place. Both girls had messily braided hair, and large sweaters over volleyball shorts. They looked sweaty and tired, like they had just come back from practice. Which they probably had given the state of their argument.

“Lincoln,” Anya said slowly, eyes narrowing. Octavia noticed she also had quite a few bruises on her face and legs. “Please tell me I’m hallucinating, and this is not my brother with the captain of our enemy’s team, who is SITTING IN OUR LIVING ROOM.”

Lexa remained silent next to her, but Octavia could see a murderous glint in her eye. Anya walked angrily towards the two, but Lincoln quickly got up, and stepped in front of Octavia. “In the kitchen please.” He demanded quietly.

Lexa grudgingly nodded. “Comed on, Anya.”

Anya shot her one last murderous glance, and stormed after her cousin. “Stay here Octavia, please, just for a minute.” Lincoln asked, before following his sister.

When everyone had left the room, Octavia breathed a sigh of relief. But quickly arguing voices filled the air. It was coming from the kitchen.

“She’s an arker Lincoln! Off limits for dating!” Anya yelled angrily.

“I met her a day ago Anya! Besides, she’s different then the others that go there.”

“Your hand was ON.HER.LEG! And how is she different than all of those other prissy rich kids?”

“Octavia’s not a spoiled brat like the rest of them! She’s kind, and interesting.”

Silence fell over the kitchen. Octavia had been trying not to listen, but it was a bit hard when she was only a room away. It was definitely interesting to hear though.

“What do you think Lexa?” Anya asked.

“I don’t like it much either.” A cool voice replied slowly. “But-“

“SEE?” Anya shouted. “She agrees with me!”

“I don’t care Anya. She’s just a friend, and I brought her here because she was hurt.”

Octavia heard a long sigh. “Fine.” She heard Anya say finally. “Just get her out of here, and never talk to her again, for my sanity. You may think you know her, but every single person in that school is the same” Her voice softened. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Footsteps came out of the kitchen, and Lincoln reappeared. He walked over to her, and sat down on the table again. “Sorry about that,” he apologized, “they still hold a grudge against your entire school.”

“A lot of people do.” Octavia replied with a sad smile. Three quarters of the town consisted of people from Polis High. “I should probably go though.” She said, slowly standing up. Her head throbbed and she swayed slightly. Lincoln put a hand on her arm to steady her.

“Did Anya and Lexa scare you off?” He asked grimly.

Octavia laughed. “I’ll admit, they were a bit terrifying, but I have to leave anyways. My friends are going to be wondering where I am.”

She walked over to the door with Lincoln by her side, and slid on her shoes. “Thanks for helping me.”

Lincoln smiled. “Any time,” he said cheerfully.

Octavia turned to leave, but then stopped, remembering something. “Oh, and Lincoln, did you see anyone else on the trail? Maybe wearing red?”

“Why?” He asked, confused.

“Because I saw someone right after the branch fell. And I think they may have cut it.”

 

╚═══ -ˋˏ *.·:·.⟐.·:·.* ˎˊ- ═══╝

 

An hour later, Octavia was back in her living room, surrounded by her friends. All the blinds in the room were shut, and doors and windows were closed. Her friends were still desperately trying to recover from their hangovers, and were sipping coffee while Raven was making bagels in the kitchen.

“So you think someone cut the branch?” Clarke asked as she dabbed the side of Octavia's head with disinfectant.

Octavia nodded. She had already told her friends about the trail, the branch, and Lincoln saving her (Clarke and Raven were more interested in the latter). She had however, conveniently left out the part where Anya and Lexa were related to him. And how he probably went to Polis.

“It must have been those grounders again.” Bellamy said viciously. “Getting revenge for last night.”

It turned out, Octavia was very right about her brother. When she had come home, he was in the middle of filing a police report, and yelling angrily into the phone. Something about how he didn't care that she had only been missing for an hour.

“It was really that bad?” Clarke questioned. The blonde couldn't remember a single thing that had happened last night. Octavia thought it was probably a good thing.

“Yeah, they're probably still mad that the princess kicked their ass.” Murphy said, rolling his eyes. “That was pretty cool, Clarke.”

“I wish I could remember!” Clarke moaned.

Monty grimaced. “It's probably better you don't. For all of us.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Suddenly, the ear splitting wail of the fire alarm filled the air. 

“What the hell?!?” Murphy shouted, jumping to his feet. The rest of her friends stood up, and saw smoke coming from the kitchen. They rushed inside to see Raven, desperately fanning a plate with some napkins. On the plate lay a stack of flaming bagels. 

“What did you do Raven?” Monty screamed.

“I don't know!” Raven replied frantically. “I just thought I would toast them a bit, and they lit on fire!” The brunette began fanning the bagels even harder, causing the flame to grow.

“What did you use to toast them?!?”

“... a small blowtorch?”

Clarke rushed over to her, carrying a cup full of water. “Stop, stop, stop!” She shouted. “Fanning the flame makes it grow you idiot!” 

But as Clarke was just about to pour water into the flame, she accidentally knocked the bagel plate off the countertop. They flipped over, and flaming bagels flew through the air. A few lucky bagels landed in the wet sink. Most of them landed in the compost bin, and one of the stay projectiles landed on Bellamy's shirt.

“Bellamy!” Jasper cried, and he rushed over carrying some napkins to put out the flame. 

Just then, the compost bin erupted into flames. Everyone screamed and backed up, except for Jasper and Bellamy. They were still desperately trying to put out the flame on his shirt. 

“What the hell is happening!” Octavia shrieked, and she ran to the sink. 

Suddenly, Jasper's napkins caught of fire. “AUGH!” He screeched, throwing the burning napkins into the air. “Hot, hot, hot!”

A flame was starting to rise again on Bellamy shirt, and he desperately hopped around. “STOP DROP AND ROLL BELLAMY!” Raven yelled. “ROLL! NO NO NO, AWAY FROM THE NAPKINS!”

But Bellamy rolled right onto the flaming napkins, and screeched in pain. Meanwhile, Octavia had managed to extinguish all the burning sink bagels, which were now charred to a crisp. She quickly grabbed the extendable fawcette, and sprayed cold water all over Bellamy.

Raven went to go save her brother, and everyone else was pouring cups of water onto the flaming compost bin. Or it was the compost bin a few minutes ago. It was now a heap of burning plastic, that had spread to the trash can. The air smelled of burning trash, but everyone was too frantic to notice. 

Octavia tried to pull the hose over to the garbage, but it was too far away. She instead quickly filed a cup with water and rushed over to help. 

“Whose idea was it to let Raven in the kitchen alone?” Murphy shouted over the wailing fire alarm. 

“Yours!” Monty bellowed back, now just throwing anything he could find on to the flames. 

“I’m far too sensible to do that!”

Bellamy ran over the everyone, soaking wet and shirtless. “What did it miss?” He asked breathlessly.

Octavia grabbed a wet cloth and threw it at him. “OUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE! She roared. “PUT OUT THE FLAMES!” 

But as Bellamy tried to get to the trash can, he slipped. On Ravens blowtorch. It went flying into a wall, and the boy fell, knocking over the trash can. Burning trash flew across the floor. 

“Why does this always happen when I hang out with you guys?!?!” Jasper cried hysterically, as he started spraying the ground with the fawcett. “I could be with my gerbil right now-” 

“SHUT UP AND SPRAY!” 

Suddenly a white cloud shot across the floor, dousing the flames. It sprayed all around the kitchen as well, coating the teens. They all stood frozen in place, gasping. 

There, in the doorway, stood Aurora Blake. She was dressed in a neat business suit, and her hair was put up into a tidy bun. And she was home two days early. In her hands was a bright red fire extinguisher, and two black suitcases were behind her. The mothers eyes roamed across the room, glinting murderously, and her mouth fell open. 

“What happened here?” She asked quietly, slowly lowering the extinguisher.

Everyone wordlessly pointed at Raven.

But Aurora wasn't done yet. “Would someone care to explain what happened here?”

Clarke cleared her throat. “Um, well,” she said nervously. “We were all having fun, and Raven was making us some bagels. And they sort of lit on fire. And then um… yourkitchenalmostburneddownbutwesavedit.” She finished quickly. 

Aurora dropped the fire extinguisher and sighed. “Reyes, how do you manage to always get into trouble?” 

Raven smiled weakly. Octavia could see her mother's eyes scanning the kitchen floor. Wet tiles, puddles of rubber, crispy bagels, and burnt garbage. Another Raven Reyes catastrophe.


	6. Equines and Emotions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just thought of this now; do we have any horse lovers of volleyball fans here? For those of you that play or watch volleyball, I know the number of people on the teams is really random, I just didn’t have enough characters to fill all the sports. For horse people, I know I will say something that’s incorrect, so I do apologize. Anyways, onto the story.

Octavia walked along the light trail, enjoying the silent Sunday morning. All of her friends had helped clean and then left after last nights bagel incident. Her mom had not been the happiest, but she surprisingly didn’t get in trouble. Probably because Aurora Blake had known Raven almost as long as she had. 

As she had promised Cooper yesterday, Octavia was heading to the stables. She was wearing breeches, dark blue v-neck, and tall black riding boots. Why was she on the trail? After yesterday's branch incident, she had decided to walk (against her brothers will) along the same path. Octavia wanted to see the branch again. Clarke was meeting her at the rescue center in about half an hour so she had plenty of time.

Finally, she reached the part of the trail where she had almost been hit by the branch. But to her surprise, it wasn’t there. She looked around to make sure it was the right place, and saw the oak tree it had fallen off of. This was it. Maybe someone had moved the branch?

She was about to walk on, but then her eye caught a golden glint on the ground by the side of the path. Confused, Octavia walked over and bent down to pick it up. It was a scrap of fabric about the size of her hand, dark navy in colour. The edges were frayed like they had been torn from a large piece of material, and there was part of a white crest on the side. A large letter ‘M’ was embroidered on it, but the rest was torn off.

Octavia picked it up, and gasped when she saw the other side. The inside of the fabric was a deep red, identical to the colour of the persons clothing she had seen when the branch was cut. Could this be a bit of their shirt, maybe torn off when they had moved the branch from the trail?

She felt chills run down her spin at the thought. Someone had cut that branch, and clearly tried to cover it up the best they could. But why?

 

╚═══ -ˋˏ *.·:·.⟐.·:·.* ˎˊ- ═══╝

 

When Octavia arrived at the stables, she saw Clarke’s yellow puchbug already parked in the front. She strode past the front gates to the courtyard, where she saw Clarke and Cooper.

The two women were engaged in a lively conversation, both smiling widely. Clarke and Cooper had a lot in common, and got along well.

“Ah, Octavia!” Cooper exclaimed when she saw her. “We were just waiting for you. Now that you girls are here, I have some good news.”

“What is it?” Octavia questioned, intrigued. Good news was always welcomed around the stables. As a volunteer organization, they constantly needed more people or money.

“Well,” Cooper continued, “as you girls know, we have been doing a lot of advertising lately. And it paid off! We have three new volunteers!” 

“That’s amazing!” Octavia gasped, and Clarke cheered next to her.”

“They all came with excellent recommendations as well.” The stables owner said. “Oh and look, here they come now.”

Clarke and Octavia turned around, and their mouths fell open.

“Oh no.” Clarke whispered.

In the driveway, walking towards them were Lexa, Anya, and Lincoln. Lincoln was smiling good naturedly, wearing jeans and a grey shirt. Lexa looked professional, her hair in an immaculate french braid, not a single strand daring to come out. A crisp white polo shirt was tucked into tan jodhpurs, and tall chocolate boots shined. Anya was just wearing what appeared to be everyday clothes, and she looked very bored.

“Welcome everyone!” Copper said enthusiastically as the teens approached. “We are so excited to have you here with us. I trust that you have all ready the email I sent you?”

The Polis teens nodded.

“Good,” She continued, “now for your first day I have two of our best volunteers, Clarke and Octavia, here to show you the ropes. Anya, Lexa, you will be going with Clarke to organize and clean the tack room.”

Clarke shot Octavia a fearful gaze, and mouthed “help me”.

“Lincoln, you will be going with Octavia to wash some of the rescues.”

Lincoln shot Octavia a smile, and she grinned back.

“Now you five will all be working very closely for the next few days, because we can’t have anything going wrong around here. Please try to get along.” Cooper added

Clarke looked like a child that had just been told Christmas was canceled. “Why?” She whimpered to Octavia. “Why me? Why them?”

“Ok everyone, daylights wasting!” Cooper exclaimed, clapping her hands. “Get to it!”

Clarke walked over to Lexa and Anya sullenly, and pointed them towards the tack room. “How did they get excellent recommendations?” The blonde muttered under her breath. 

The trio of girls walked away, and Octavia went up to Lincoln

“So this is your volunteer activity, huh?” Octavia said as she approached him.

Lincoln grinned. “Yeah, but I had no idea you would be here.”

“I never expected to see you guys here either. Neither did Clarke, except she’s definitely not as happy as me.”

The two walked past the side of the stables and to a nearby field. Sunny Lane was about five acres large. In the center was the U shaped stables, with the stony courtyard around it. Behind the barn was a covered riding arena and a lung pen. Around the sides of the driveway were large fields and some smaller pastures, normally filled with horses. The rescue center had room for about forty horses, and thirty equines were currently here.

The pair stopped at a dark wooden gate, that closed of a small pasture. Three horses were inside, a dapple grey and two bays.

“Okay,” Octavia said, “do you have any experience around horses?”

“Kind of.” Lincoln replied. “My aunt used to have horses, and we would visit sometimes and help out around the barn. But that was about three years ago.”

Octavia nodded. “The horse we’re going to be washing has been here for a while, so she's pretty good around people. You see that grey one?” She pointed to a horse a few feet down along the fence. It had black dapples, and a dark mane that faded to white. 

Lincoln nodded. “She’s a mare right?”

Octavia grinned. “Yup. Her name is Cinders. Now when we go in, I’m going to hold the halter behind my back. The goal here is basically tricking her into coming with us. Horses are herd animals, so most of them don’t like leaving their friends.”

“Wow,” Lincoln said, feigning disbelief. “So sneaky around the poor horses.”

“You would say that until you spend an hour chasing one around.” She scoffed. Octavia opened the dark wooden door, halter behind her back, and walked towards the horse. 

With that, she opened to pasture gate, and stepped inside. Cinders ears flicked towards the girl, but didn’t move an inch. Octavia confidently strode over to the mare and put the halter over her head. 

“Good girl!” She cooed when the horse willingly followed her towards the gate. “Now we head to the hose.”

Lincoln closed the gate behind the girl and the horse, and passed Octavia a blue lead rope. He then walked alongside them of the way back to the stables.

Lincoln looked into the regal mares dark eyes as they went. “What’s her story?” He asked.

“Cinders was taken from a farm just outside of town.” Octavia replied sadly. “They found her with multiple other horses, abandoned. The center saved all of them, and most of the horses have been adopted. Cinders and another horse named Skai are the only ones still here.”

Lincoln grinned at her. “See that’s why I volunteered here, and not some stuffy office. Sunny Lane impacts lives for the better.”

Octavia felt her heart warm. Lincoln was so much different than all the other guys at her school. Some of them were nice enough, but never did anything useful or interesting. Other guys were just total jerks. Lincoln was interesting, and sweet, and caring. 

The teens and the horse arrived at the hose in the back of the stables. Octavia tied Cinders lead rope to the side of the fence.

“Whenever you tie a horse to anything, tie it in a quick release knot,” she explained, “in case the horse spooks. The knot will come undone if Cinders pulls hard enough.”

Lincoln nodded. “Got it.”

He grabbed a bucket of water and some sponges from a nearby trough, and Octavia turned on the long green hose. She set it on light, and gently started spraying the mares legs as Lincoln sponged her neck.

“She’s so calm.” He remarked as he rubbed the sponge in circles. Cinders was dozing as she was being washed.

“I know.” Octavia said, glancing at the sleepy mare. “When she first got here she wasn’t nearly as trusting.”

“Do you have a favourite horse here?” Lincoln questioned. 

Octavia had just fished with the hose, and she put it on the bucket. “Yeah,” she replied with a grin, “the chestnut in the front, Helios.”

“It’s so sad to think that someone could abandon these horses.” Lincoln said as he stroked Cinders neck.

Octavia nodded. “I know. That’s why I love this place so much; it gives horses a second chance at a better life.”

At her words, Cinders bobbed her head up and down, upper lip flapping. Octavia and Lincoln laughed, and resumed the task of washing the dirty horse.

Around ten minutes later, the teens had almost finished. Lincoln was using the hose to refill the bucket, and Octavia was squeezing a sponge out. Suddenly, Octavia felt a cold jet of water hit her in the back. She gasped as the icy water hit her shirt, and whirled around. There she saw Lincoln, holding the hose with a smirk on his face. 

“Lincoln!” She shrieked.

“Oops.” He said with innocently with a shrug. “I must have missed.”

A smile began to spread across Octavia’s face. “Oh, it’s so on.”

She quickly darted to the fence and grabbed the bucket of soapy water. Then she tossed the water onto Lincoln, who dodged about half of it. 

“Good try Blake!” He shouted back at her. “But I have the hose!” With that he shot another blast of water at her, that hit squarely in the stomach. 

Cinders watched the scene unfold before her, calmly dozing off in the sun

Octavia ran after Lincoln, but he dodged her at the last second, and she toppled backwards into a trough full of cool water. She fell all the way in, landing on the bottom with a clunk.

Breaking through the freezing water, she sat up with a gasp. Her clothes were completely soaked, and water trickled down her face. Lincoln walked over to the side of the through, trying to look serious, but a smirk was spreading across his face.

“Oh Octavia…” He trailed of in a strained voice, clearly trying not to laugh. 

Despite being soaked in cold, dirty water, Octavia couldn’t help but smile. “I guess you won that war, huh?”

With a grin, Lincoln offered Octavia his hand. She grabbed it, and pulled herself out of the metal trough. When she got out, she was only a few inches away from Lincoln, and found herself staring into his eyes. Suddenly he leaned in and kissed her. 

Her body went limp, and before she knew it she was kissing him back. Heat rushed through her body, even though she was soaking wet. She felt Lincoln’s hands on her waist, and her body leaned into his, deepening the kiss.

It was slow and sweet, so unlike the last time she had kissed someone. Octavia couldn’t even remember the last time that was right now, as her mind was set on one thing. 

The pair broke after what seemed like a million years. Octavia lips still tingled, and she felt electricity in her body.

“I’m sorry, you probably didn’t expect that.” Lincoln said in a low voice.

Octavia shook her head, a giddy smile playing on her lips. “No.” She murmured. And with that, she kissed Lincoln for a second time that day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My heart...


	7. Lilies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just out of curiosity, does anyone have any comments? Things they want more of? Characters they want to see? Feel free to tell me!

“I can’t believe it!” Clarke groaned, flopping back onto her blue duvet. “What are the chances of them volunteering at the exact same place that we do?”

It was Wednesday night, and Octavia, Clarke, and Raven were in Clarke and Raven’s bedroom. The two girls lived together, along with Clarke’s mom, who was a famous surgeon that normally worked in Washington. As a result, she would often be away on very short notice.

Raven’s dad had died before she was born, and her mother had passed away a few years ago. She had come to live with the Griffins, which Abby didn’t mind at all. In fact, the doctor loved having Raven over to keep Clarke company when she was away. She also liked to keep Clarke near Raven, to help avoid more potential disasters.

The bedroom that the girls shared was very large, with separate bathrooms and a walk-in closet. Clarke’s side was very neat, with a large white bed stand, neatly arranged pillows, and light blue duvet. In the corner was a white desk with multiple plants on it, and there were artistically taken photos lining the walls. On the hardwood floor was a white fluffy rug.

Ravens side was a stark contrast to the neatness of Clarke’s. Her bed wasn’t made, and pillows were lying across the bed. She had a large workbench and desk that had papers and materials strewn across it, and her picture frames held silly photos of her friends. On the floor were scraps of metals and wires, with the occasional pencil or unfinished essay.

All three girls were lying on Clarke’s bed, doing homework. Or they were supposed to be. Clarke was actually complaining as the two brunettes scrolled through Instagram. However, it was still a very good thing Clarke had a king-sized bed. The teens were all sprawled across the mattress, with books and papers scattered between them

“I bet they just did it to get under your skin.” Raven said loathingly. “Bellamy needs to hurry up and plan this revenge.”

Octavia rolled over onto her back, and sprawled out across the bed. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She was only really thinking of Lincoln when she said this, but still.

Raven sighed and put down her phone. “You don’t get it, Blake! It’s called being guilty by association!” She moaned. “What do you think, Clarke?”

“Well,” Clarke mused, “since you guys don’t even have a revenge plan yet, we don’t have to worry.”

Raven gave her a look of disapproval. “I always thought you were the smart one.” She said sadly. “Anyways, how was volunteering with the teens from hell?”

The blonde groaned, and buried her head in a pillow. “Awful.” she replied in a muffled voice. “Lexa Woods is the most arrogant, annoying person in the world! And Anya isn’t any better! She’s just more sarcastic. The entire time they looked at me like I was insane, and they complained.” She finished, rising out of the pillow

“Well, Anya did.” Clarke added. “Lexa just sort of stood there when she wasn’t making sarcastic comments.”

Octavia gave her a pitying look. “Ouch. Mine wasn’t that bad.” She said remembering her time with Lincoln. It actually wasn’t bad at all.

The Latina shook her head and sighed. “Well, at least all of them are hot. You guys need something to look at on the farm all day. However, this is exactly why I never volunteer.”

“Well we aren’t all geniuses Raven.” Octavia reminded her. “Some of us need extra volunteer hours to get into university.”

Raven rolled her eyes. “How silly of me to forget.”

All three girls (with the exception of Raven half the time) resumed their homework. Octavia was writing a draft for her essay, and Raven was completing a chemistry assignment she knew was due tomorrow. Clarke was typing something on her laptop.

They worked quietly for approximately two minutes.

Suddenly Clarke gasped. “Come see guys!” She gushed, waving them over to her computer screen. The two brunettes rolled over to her excitedly.

“What is it?” Raven asked ecstatically. “Did the school finally burn down?”

The blonde scoffed. “Of course not! The email about homecoming came out.”

“Oooo, show me.” Octavia said, grabbing the laptop. Her eyes scanned the extensive paragraph. “Let’s see… it’s next week, October first. Monday is school color day, Tuesday is the activities fair, Wednesday is theme day, Thursday is the powderpuff football game and a bonfire, and then the game and dance are on Friday.”

“I better win Homecoming Queen this year.” Raven said.

“Does it say what the dance theme is this year?” Clarke inquired.

Every year the school alongside the student council selected a theme for the dance. If you didn’t choose to follow the theme, you wouldn’t be allowed into the dance. Last years theme was ‘Spring in Fall’. All the girls wore bright floral dresses, and the dance was held in the school courtyard surrounded by the falling leaves. One year, when a bunch of the football guys were on the student council, they almost got a strip club theme for the dance. That idea had been quickly shut down by the teachers. Instead the school had gone for a ‘Back to the 1700’s’ theme. That was a disaster, full of mandatory Amish looking dresses.

Octavia scanned the email. “Yes! This year's theme is a masked ball. It says masks will be taken off at 11:00, and the only requirement is a mask that will conceal your identity.”

Oh no,” Raven groaned. “Last time I went to one of these, I ended up accidentally hooking up with some old guy. He was like, twenty-five, totally illegal ”

Clarke made a face. “Ok, one, twenty-five really isn’t that old. And two, ew.”

“When did you ever care about the law anyways?” Octavia inquired, thinking back to the multiple illegal things Raven had done. “Remember the fireworks shop, the weed bake sale with Monty, and the beer run?”

“Well I care sometimes!” Raven protested. “Laws exists to be broken. And besides, you were my business partner for half of those.”

Octavia laughed, and grabbed her binder and phone. “Alright, I have to go. Half of these are due tomorrow, and I actually have to finish to them.” She walked out the door waving over her shoulder. “See you at morning practice tomorrow!”

“You finished half of your homework!” Raven shouted back at her. “That’s a new record!”

Rolling her eyes, Octavia left the modern house and walked back to her place. The sun was just beginning to set in the autumn sky, and colors streaked across the sky. A cool breeze blew through the air, and she pulled her green bomber jacket tighter.

When she finally got back to her coastal house (finally means two minutes in the cold), she was freezing. All the house lights were off, which wasn’t uncommon for six o’clock on a Wednesday. Her mom was probably stuck at the office, and Bellamy had football practice until nine. She walked up to her door, and reached under the mat for the key. Her hand found if and she hurriedly shoved it into the keyhole. Suddenly, her eye caught a flash of white.

On the side of her porch railing was a perfect white lily. Intrigued, she picked it up. On the other side was a note, written out in slanted black writing.

Meet me at Floukru Beach. Seven.  
Lincoln

Octavia felt her heart flutter. She hadn’t seen Lincoln since Sunday. Checking her watch quickly, she saw it was six fifteen. Her brother would never know she wasn’t home, and her mom would just think she was at Clarke’s… a smile spread across her face. She quickly stuffed the note in her jeans pocket, and gently placed the lily behind the flower pot. It would still be there when she came back.

Hastily, Octavia yanked the key out of the door and placed it back under the mat. She then strode over to her red convertible, a 1966 mustang, and climbed into the driver's seat. Off to Floukru Beach.

 

╚═══ -ˋˏ *.·:·.⟐.·:·.* ˎˊ- ═══╝

 

Octavia walked through the quiet woods, flashlight lighting the path in front of her. The sun had set, and the first few stars were starting to speckle the sky. She finally made her way through the forest to the sandy expanse of beach.

Waves crashed against the shore, and a crescent moon was starting to appear. She saw Lincoln sitting on a green blanket near the shore, a small fire flickering in front of him.

“Hey.” Octavia said with a smile as she walked up to him.

At the sound of her voice, Lincoln turned and saw her. “You came.” He said happily, a grin spreading across his face.

Octavia sat down on the blanket next to him, resting her head against his shoulder. The two sat in silence for a while, just watching the stars in the sky.

“You know,” Lincoln began, breaking the silence, “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. Ever since we first met at the game. There was just something about you… I sound super weird, don’t I?”

“You would,” Octavia replied, “if I didn’t feel the same way.”

Lincoln wrapped his arms around her, and she snuggled into them happily. She could feel strong muscles under his thick sweater. 

“We do need to think about this though,” Octavia continued. “Our schools aren’t exactly pen pals. The tension between teams is insane right now, especially with the school's history, and to top it off my brother’s plotting some weird revenge or something against you guys.”

Lincoln looked down at her questioningly. “Revenge?”

“Don’t ask.” Octavia sighed, rolling her eyes. “It probably won’t end up happening though, knowing Bellamy’s organizational skills.”

“Wait, Bellamy Blake is your brother?” Lincoln asked.

“Yeah.” She replied, confused. “There aren’t a ton of Blake’s around town last time I checked.” Then she made the connection. “Oh no,” Octavia groaned. “You’re Polis Highs football captain, aren’t you? My brother hates you more than anyone else in town.”

“I suspected as much,” Lincoln sighed. “We’ve only ever talked a few times, but those few times were more than enough for me.”

The whole issue between the two schools was so stupid, Octavia thought. It had been going on for as long as anyone in town could remember, and no one even knew who started it. People couldn’t even be friends with someone from the other school now.

“What are we going to do?” Octavia said quietly. “I know it would be hard to make this work, but…”

“I want it to work.” Lincoln finished for her. “I know. I do too.”

She leaned deeper into him, and Lincoln pulled her closer. Octavia could hear the steady sound of his heartbeat by her head. The steady beat calmed her. Even though she had only known him for two weeks, she felt safe here. With him.

“You know,” Octavia said slowly, “People don’t have to know we’re dating. Not for a while anyway,” she added. “But we don’t need to tell anyone quite yet. If we’re still together by, let’s say, Thanksgiving, then we could tell people.”

Lincoln nodded his head slowly. “That could work. If we last for two months, then let people know. If we part ways and no one will ever know.”

Octavia smiled up at him. “If we part ways.”

Lincoln grinned down at her. He pushed a stray strand of brown hair from her face, and leaned in to kiss her. A grin still playing on her lips, she kissed him back. The second their lips connect Octavia felt electricity flowing through her veins. It was exactly like one of Clarke’s dumb romance novels; she had always thought it was over exaggerated, but apparently not. Octavia had never felt this way before, not with anyone. It’s like the two of them just connected in a completely different way.

Their kiss deepened and Lincoln leaned back into the blanket. Octavia felt the sand shift beneath the two of them, and she wrapped her arms around Lincoln. The two finally broke apart, lying on the thin blanket, wrapped in each other’s arms.

Octavia felt Lincoln’s hand running through her long hair, the other one placed on her waist. Her head rested next to his, foreheads touching.

Octavia stared into his dark eyes, chocolate brown meeting aquarium blue. “We’ll make it.” She whispered.

**Author's Note:**

> Oof, the kids talking to Kane at the start are literally me to my teachers all the time. where is Lincoln you ask? Stick with me for a few more chapters, because you can all guess what high school he goes to...


End file.
